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My DH would like to become a teacher. It would mean a large drop in income and that in itself puts him off cause he doesn't think we can afford it.

I've decided that if we lived off what we would get if he was a teacher, we would be able to see how well we'd manage.
So I've gone to entitled to and added what his salary would be to what we would get benefits wise and come up with a total...

It comes to about £1800 a month for 2 adults and 4 children so I'm trying to work out a budget for that.
The thing is there are some things that we spend money on now that we wouldn't nessecarily buy on a smaller income and there are some things that I cover using expenses that my DH gets with his current job...

I'm not sure how much sense I'm making...but I guess I'm trying to work out what are essential living expenses for the 6 of us and what are extras that I would try to cover with cashback/ matched betting etc..

Hi Frankie,
I have £1500 a month coming in, and luckily don't have a mortgage.
However, I do have a personal loan, so you have to factor that in. Don't forget any credit card debt either.
Otherwise, I agree with Diana. You don't need Sky, or internet access (use the library for free), you don't need new clothes, (Unless they're really worn out, and there's always ebay or charity shoops for those)
Meals from scratch are cheaper than ready meals. Don't have takeaways or eat in restaurants unless it's an occasion.
A mobile can sometimes be cheaper than a landline, depending on your deal and how much you use it.

I Believe in saving money!!!A Bargain is only a bargain if you need it!

water/phone (not every month expenses so easy to budget for every 3-6 months)
mobiles (we have 3)

catalogues/storecard.. I usually pay these with the credit card them pay the credit card off at the end of the month.. this way I collect points AND pay my catalogues

There are 10 of us and we get £1700 a month plus the tax credits and child benefit and DLA+ carers allowance for one of the children.

My hubby left work and went to uni when we had 4 children.. it was a struggle.. BUT we moved to rented housing so that was paid all but £1.20 a week, the council tax was paid all but a little bit. We still had to pay school dinners though and trnsport to and from uni/school.. we resorted to bikes for everyone!

If I had known how hard it would have been for us I wouldn't have let him do it.

hey frankie - do you mean a drop in money whilst he is training, or will teaching wages (around £22k for a newly qualified teacher before deductions, outside of london) be significantly less than you are used to?

essential costs? if you head up to the debt free wannabe board there is a great sticky about how to make an SOA (statement of affairs). it is basically a kind of budget that gets you to look at all the things you might possibly have to pay out for, and how much 'life' costs you. filling one in makes it easier to see where you are overspending, easy places to cut back.

a drop in money can be hard to get used to, whether it means lifestyle changes or scraping pennies to survive each month. but with the right attitude, and the advice from this fab site, it CAN be done, so chin up!

Can I add something: unless you are on real dire straits, please do not cut off ALL fun money! It is possible to have a lot of fun for free of course and this forum is fab for this sort of things, but even being skint you NEED an occasional treat. Just work a bit harder to find the free treats, I suppose, and have the odd bottle of wine/indian takeaway/pot of face cream or whatever tickles your and your family's fancy!

Good luck with the downshifting, it can be done painlessly if you plan it well, and make it FUN too!

He is untrained and it seems the best way to do it is to go in as an unqualified teacher and train at the same time, that way we get some money. £14571 then tax credits are added to that which makes it more doable...I think, anyway.
It is still a significant drop, though I don't spend up to our income at the moment...

You cannot plough a field by turning it over in your mind
Author Unknown

just a few thoughts - presumably at least some of DH's expenses were initially a cost for him - ie. business miles/phones etc. so those bills might go down a bit?
Also, do you have a moveable mortgage to save money, or does your mortgage allow for a payment break, or could you negotiate lower payments?
Depending on what sort of teaching he wants to do is there any grants/golden hellos available?
Is it actually better income-wise for him to go in as unqualified and train? Are there grants/student loans/golden hellos available if he wanted to go to uni and do it?

I'm not sure about grants etc...it just seemed to be better for us with regards to tax credits if he was 'working'...

We have a oneaccount at the moment, which is fab for us now, but wouldn't be if/ when our income drops....we would either change our mortgage provider or sell and then rent..

At the moment pretty much all of his expenses...car/petrol/mobile/broadband etc are covered by the expenses he receives from work.
I'm hoping that most of those would no longer exsist or at least to a much lesser extent!!

Does anyone else pay for different parts of the budget with different money...say clicks, ebay etc cover non essential items??

water/phone (not every month expenses so easy to budget for every 3-6 months)
mobiles (we have 3)

catalogues/storecard.. I usually pay these with the credit card them pay the credit card off at the end of the month.. this way I collect points AND pay my catalogues

There are 10 of us and we get £1700 a month plus the tax credits and child benefit and DLA+ carers allowance for one of the children.

My hubby left work and went to uni when we had 4 children.. it was a struggle.. BUT we moved to rented housing so that was paid all but £1.20 a week, the council tax was paid all but a little bit. We still had to pay school dinners though and trnsport to and from uni/school.. we resorted to bikes for everyone!

If I had known how hard it would have been for us I wouldn't have let him do it.

Why not try to live off the reduced amount now?
That way you will know if you can and at the same time put the savings away for when you income genuinely reduces.
Think of all the teachers who do live on that money!!!!!
Also don't forget that once he qualifies then he will get pay rises and hopefully promotion.

Thats what I was planning to do...work out a budget now to live off, put the 'left over' into the mortgage...also showing DH that we could manage....
I'm not even sure how many years it would take.....!

You cannot plough a field by turning it over in your mind
Author Unknown

My hubby starts uni in sept doing a full time PGCE/QTS so our income will also take a nose dive. We went down the student loans line many years ago when he got his degree so have decided this time around we are totally funding it ourselves from savings. Luckly we already lead a fairly frugal lifestyle but I will have to get a job so that some money is still coming in, our priorities here are:

Thats it.. don't have sky anyway, only one mobile phone, only one old car, already buy clothes from secondhand shops. If youre not use to cutting down it will be hard so start now or have a trial run for a few months to see if you can manage it.

[quote=pavlovs_dog;11638251]hey frankie - do you mean a drop in money whilst he is training, or will teaching wages (around £22k for a newly qualified teacher before deductions, outside of london) be significantly less than you are used to?

I am a qualified teacher at the top of the pay spine, outside of London - I haven't gone through the Threshold (but poverty is about to force me to ) I take home 1728.77 a month - please do not believe all you read about teacher's wages in the news.

On the good side I have managed to raise 3 children and fund them at University on that wage. Yes money is tight but if he enjoys it teaching is the best job in the world. Just realise that it will take over his life during term time - he will be more tired than you can imagine.

The internet should be counted as an essential because he will use it so much for his training. Personally I manage without a car (2 bus journey to school) new clothes, holidays, trips to the cinema etc. I cook from scratch and follow a vegan diet because it is healthier and cheapest. You just learn to adjust and decide what is important.

Me, I am going to jump through their blessed hoops and prove that I am doing the job they are paying me for so that I can earn enough to keep a roof over my head.

My advice is for him to make sure he is completely sure it's what he wants to do. If he hasn't already done it, he needs to spend at least a week in a school observing., talk to plenty of teachers and find out all the pros and cons of the profession. Remember approx a third of teachers leave the profession within the first 3 yrs.

We don't need to do it perfectly - good enough is exactly that GOOD ENOUGH.

the money is 'better' if he trains as an unqualified teacher on the GTP programme than if he was to do a PGCE course, however low levels of funding means competition is fierce and places are few and far between. plus there is the added stress of finding a school that is willing to employ and train him. on the bright side, it is possible for strong candidates to qualify quicker than on a traditional PGCE course, but i believe this is the exception rather than the rule.

if he was to do the PGCE i imagine he would be entitled to the non income assessed part of the student loan, if not the full amount, which at the very least would cover his course fees. depending on the subject and level he wishes to teach at, he would probably also qualify for a non-repayable bursary of somewhere between £4-9k. for shortage subjects taxable golden hellos of £2500-5000 are available after he successfully completes his induction (NQT) year.

bear in mind that in switching careers, you are likely to loose some costs and gain others. dont forget things like the crb check, which cost money (mine was around £40), and if he doesnt already have suitable work clothes he will need to kit himself out.

Hi Frankie
You asked does anyone else pay for different parts of the budget with different money...say clicks, ebay etc cover non essential items??
I do, I make & sell scarves, bags etc to pay for Christmas, one of my part time jobs earns just enough to pay for broadband, Amazon & Ebay sales, I try to allocate to car expenses, not petrol, but MOT, tax etc.

Hi Frankie
You asked does anyone else pay for different parts of the budget with different money...say clicks, ebay etc cover non essential items??
I do, I make & sell scarves, bags etc to pay for Christmas, one of my part time jobs earns just enough to pay for broadband, Amazon & Ebay sales, I try to allocate to car expenses, not petrol, but MOT, tax etc.

Do you have a budget then or is what you spend dependent on what you make?
also what if you don't make enough?

I've done a bsic budget on the amount I think we'll have coming in. I'm going to sit down with DH and children and explain that we are going to give it a go as of next pay day, which is the end of the month.
I'm already trying to stick to the food part....hopefully if everyone is on board that will help our chances of success!

You cannot plough a field by turning it over in your mind
Author Unknown

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